The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced plans to clean up several hundred abandoned oil and gas wells – and 130 of those so-called “orphaned wells” are in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Shiloh Benton is the lands and materials program manager for the national park.
‘The Department of Interior holds those funds. And when we have identified the wells that we need to close, we will work with them through contracting and possibly agreements, to have them work with contractors to do that reclamation work here on the Daniel Boone.”
Benton said the orphaned wells release methane gas, which is a powerful contributor to global warming, and can negatively impact waterways and pose a hazard to hikers.
“We're hoping that it'll start possibly this fall, maybe early next year. And over the next --it's going to it's going to be a project that lasts over the next several years.”
There’s also money to clean up an orphaned well in the Big South Fork National Recreation area.
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